“For three weeks in July, the regional rapeseed market was under direct and fairly intense pressure from bad news about attacks on dry cargo ships in the Azov and Black Seas,” comments Iurie Rija, an expert in agricultural marketing. “This resulted in severe restrictions on shipping through the Kerch Strait, which were imposed in mid-July. The effect was immediate: rapeseed prices rose, driven by a ‘geopolitical risk premium.’ However, as reports emerged of a bumper rapeseed harvest in many countries across this region of Europe, prices plummeted. This series of sharp fluctuations and market downturns prompted many Moldovan traders to temporarily suspend purchases, hoping for a stabilization of the market supply-and-demand balance, on the basis of which they could calculate their margins.”
The largest local rapeseed processor, the Floarea Soarelui SA oil and fat plant (Bălți), is following the same strategy. At the very beginning of the season, the company’s management announced its intention to process domestically grown rapeseed. However, the “overheated market” at the start of the season did not facilitate this; due to relatively high prices (and possibly other reasons), the company is currently refraining from building up a significant reserve of this raw material for processing.
The average export price of Moldovan rapeseed in July 2026 (10.11 lei/kg) was higher than in the same month last year (9.10 lei/kg). The difference is more than 11%. Clearly, the relatively high initial prices have whetted farmers’ appetite, and they are in no hurry to sell rapeseed at a lower price in August.
High logistics costs drove up prices in July
“The explanation lies in significantly higher logistics costs, which directly affected the price of the commodity under FOB/DAP delivery terms,” says Iurie Rija. “Transportation costs in Moldova rose sharply as early as July—that is, right at the start of the marketing season.” For example, the cost of road transport for agricultural products from the north of the country to the area around the port of Giurgiulești rose from 480–500 lei/metric ton to 880 lei/metric ton on average, an increase of 76–83%. Meanwhile, the cost of transporting Moldovan rapeseed to the port of Constanța rose from 40 euros per metric ton to 64 euros per metric ton (+60%). The rise in rates is partly due to a more than 35% increase in the price of diesel fuel. However, another reason—one that is more difficult to quantify—is the slowdown in “truck turnover”: queues at customs checkpoints and congestion at the port of Giurgiulești meant that trucks made fewer trips on average, and the lost time was reflected in the freight rates.
Maritime transport was hit even harder. Freight costs for barges operating between the ports of Giurgiulești and Constanța nearly doubled, reaching 25 euros/metric ton, and in some cases even 35 euros/metric ton for river vessels.”
At the same time, a key feature of the start of the 2026/26 marketing season is that approximately 94% of Moldova’s total rapeseed exports in July went in a single direction—to Romania. Bulgaria—a traditional and important player—was absent from the list of buyers.
The near-total concentration of exports on the Romanian route naturally meant intensive use of the infrastructure at border crossing points. The most heavily used was the customs checkpoint in Cahul (road), through which approximately 39,000 metric tons of rapeseed passed—nearly half of the total export volume of this commodity. In second place was the complex in Giurgiulești (sea, road, rail, and river), through which nearly 30,000 metric tons of rapeseed were transshipped.
Clearly, as events unfold in the new marketing season, the value and demand for the Romanian logistics corridor will only continue to grow. The question is who will control access to this corridor from the Moldovan side: local carriers and traders, or external players—who are highly influential from a geopolitical standpoint.
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